Detroit Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom scored his 200th career goal on Friday night, part of a 6-2 Detroit win over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks.

Lidstrom's goal, Detroit's fifth of the night, was his first in the last 17 games.

With the Red Wings skating on a five-on-three and the game seemingly already in hand, Lidstrom's blast from the high slot beat goalie Nikolai Khabibulin just 40 seconds into the third period, giving Detroit a 5-1 lead.

Chicago's goals sandwiched the Lidstrom tally. Both were scored by former Red Wing Jason Williams, who was traded to the Blackhawks on Monday for Kyle Calder and was making his first appearance at Joe Louis Arena since the deal.

With 8:45 remaining in the second, Williams intercepted a Mathieu Schneider pass at the Chicago blue line while killing a penalty and broke in all alone on Detroit netminder Chris Osgood. Osgood covered the bottom of the net but Williams went high over his glove to get the Blackhawks on the board.

Just 2:06 after the Lidstrom goal, Williams scored a power play goal on a blast from the top of the right circle.

Robert Lang ended his scoring slump at 6:15 of the first period, scoring just after the end of a five-on-three with a shot from the left circle that bounced off defenseman Duncan Keith before hitting the inside of Lalime's leg and sliding into the net.

With just under four seconds remaining in the period, a beautiful passing play set up Mathieu Schneider's goal while the teams skated four aside. Pavel Datsyuk carried the puck into the zone along the right wing before pushing it over to Niklas Kronwall, who passed down to Lang at the bottom of the left circle. Lang moved it back out into the high slot for Schneider, who rocketed a shot into the top of the net over a fallen Lalime.

At 7:28 of the second period, rookie Valtteri Filppula - playing on the team's top line in place of the injured Henrik Zetterberg - extended the Detroit lead. Datsyuk stole the puck in the left circle of the Chicago zone and crossed it to Filppula at the far side of the net to punch in off of Lalime.

Datsyuk would assist again just 1:45 later, sending a long outlet pass from the Detroit zone to Jiri Hudler at the Chicago blue line. Hudler beat Lalime one-on-one, ending the goalie's night early.

After Williams and Lidstrom scored, Johan Franzen finished the game's scoring with 9:10 remaining on a shot from the slot. Lang's assist on the goal marked his fourth point of the night.

The Red Wings finished the night 2-for-9 on the power play, including two five-on-three chances and one shorthanded goal allowed. Chicago scored on one of their five power play attempts.

Osgood made 17 saves on 19 shots against. Lalime stopped 14 of the 18 shots he faced before being replaced by Khabibulin, who stopped 17 of 19.

The win pulls Detroit back even with the Nashville Predators for the top spot in the Central Division and the Western Conference. The Predators are in action on Saturday in Los Angeles while the Red Wings will next hit the ice on Sunday when they host the Colorado Avalanche.

Comment on this Article

I meant to post this before the game and since there's no thread yet and I'm catching it on DVR, I'll go ahead like it hasn't already started...

Well, it'll be an odd Detroit lineup on the ice in Chicago tonight. Zetterberg is out but expected back on Friday for the back end of this series. Cleary is still out (2-4 weeks). Chelios has the night off. Calder will be making his first appearance as a Wing, against the team he broke into the league with, while Williams will likely be making his Chicago debut. Ellis is still up to cover for Cleary, Hussey is up to cover for Zetterberg.

I meant to post this before the game and since there's no thread yet and I'm catching it on DVR, I'll go ahead like it hasn't already started...Well, it'll be an odd Detroit lineup on the ice in Chicago tonight. Zetterberg is out but expected back on Friday for the back end of this series. Cleary is still out (2-4 weeks). Chelios has the night off. Calder will be making his first appearance as a Wing, against the team he broke into the league with, while Williams will likely be making his Chicago debut. Ellis is still up to cover for Cleary, Hussey is up to cover for Zetterberg.

You're the man YzerFan19!Yesterday you called it, "Calder's stats are quite a bit worse this year but I remember liking him when he was with Chicago," scores the first one tonight.Detroit looks pretty good so far, but we still have a lull on D side sometimes. I'm wondering if Mike is going to start mixing up pairs to get better pairing performance before long?Go Wings.

I didn't say it here, but I also called Calder scoring on his first shift in a conversation with CoffeyCreamer77 earlier today. I linked him to the video of Cory Cross scoring on his first shift and said Calder would do the same thing.

Great tough goal by Homer to go up 2-0. For such an odd lineup, the Wings are playing fairly well, but it is against Chicago.

I didn't say it here, but I also called Calder scoring on his first shift in a conversation with CoffeyCreamer77 earlier today. I linked him to the video of Cory Cross scoring on his first shift and said Calder would do the same thing. Great tough goal by Homer to go up 2-0. For such an odd lineup, the Wings are playing fairly well, but it is against Chicago.WHAT A GOAL BY FRANZEN! Holy hell!

And another point for the Calder Boy!! 3-0, the hardest lead to keep in the new NHL they say... Go Wings.

The obvious one, Calder is paying dividends already. Filppula looks good getting the extra minutes in Zetterberg's spot with Pavs and Homer. Dom's been pretty solid, seems to be keeping himself to the crease better.

And Glove_Dropper, just so you know (in case you don't), you can reply to a thread without quoting someone by using the "Reply" button at the top and bottom of the page. Not a problem by me but I think I've only seen you quote people so I didn't know if you knew that.

Talk about good positioning by Calder. I guess they were right when they say he isnt afraid to go into rough spots and go after the puck. What a great play on his part, as well as Franzen to get it to him. As of last night, I would say that was a good trade. Now all we have left to wait for is Bertuzzi's debut.

Actualy, they never did. Boston signed him as a free agent to a ridiculous deal and so the Wings said, "Fine, you can have him." That deal was up after the lockout and the Wings were reportedly interested in bringing him back but he signed with Chicago instead.

It's too bad that a lot of players end up selling out for more money, gone are the days of having an allegiance to a team. Or being the player that has a red wings emblem tattooed on his chest

Well, number "5" and a few others on the team have been there for us, but for the most part, you are right. It's hard to see a guy (Superstar) remain with a team for an entire career when the administration of the league has been rectified and ratified to support easy solutions for team talent. I personally would like to see an adjunct into the league rules that would require a Team to hold a traded player for 2 years minimum. This is currently the ongoing situation in Edmonton. The league is aware that Smyth may have made a trade to the Islanders with no intention to remain after this season, and return to the Oilers at his earliest convenience. This wouldn't be fair to the team he currently signed with, unless he has to accept a matching offer from his current team, Islanders in this case.What do you think?Go Wings.

I'll give Smyth bonus points for crying at his speech and making the comment that he will go to the Island, win the cup, and bring it back to Edmonton because that is where his heart is. Gotta love a guy for that kind of dedication! However, I would admire him more if he would have offered to restructure his contract for less money, that would really show his love for his team. It's also the reason why we need to take a good look at Dats because he won't be back next year. Stevie would never have left!